Nightmare Dash: The Corruption
by LightningstrikeWarrior02
Summary: Rainbow Dash is corrupted by an evil spirit named Nightmare. What will happen when she meets this spirit? (All rights go to Hasbro for all characters except Nightmare and Queen Solaria)


Water. Water EVERYWHERE. And Rainbow Dash couldn't stop it. The Wonderbolts had come to try to save the ponies of Ponyville from the great flood.

Spitfire flew past Rainbow Dash, who was standing on the top of a building. "Help us!" she cried, "We need you!"

Rainbow Dash nodded. "I'm on it!" She went to fly off of the building, but as she jumped into the air, her wings wouldn't work, and she fell into the deep, murky water surging through the streets. Twisting around to look at her wings, she realized that they had been clipped!

As she struggled to stay afloat, she heard familiar voices screaming her name. She paddled around in the water and saw Twilight Sparkle being swept out of the library by the currents. "I don't have a spell in any of my books to stop this!"

"Twilight! I'm coming!" called Rainbow Dash. But by the time she reached her magical purple unicorn friend, Twilight's head had gone under the water for the last time.

"No!" Rainbow Dash cried.

"Oh, this water is simply dreadful! Rainbow Dash, darling, would you be a dear and GET ME OUT OF THIS FILTHY WATER?" yelled another familiar voice.

Rainbow Dash's eyes widened. "Rarity! Hold on!"

Rainbow Dash swam over to Rarity and tried to pull her out of the water, but she felt so…_weak…._

Rainbow Dash stared at Rarity and whispered, "I'm sorry. I can't do anything…" Rainbow Dash dropped Rarity back into the water and swam away before she could watch Rarity drown. One by one, Rainbow Dash's friends called out for her, but she couldn't do anything to save them, and was forced to watch them drown one by one.

After Rainbow Dash watched Pinkie Pie get swept away by the currents, she saw Scootaloo floating in the water, staring at the wreckage. _Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle must have gone to look for Apple Jack and Rarity… _"Scootaloo, try to stay afloat and get to dry land! I can't help you!" she screamed over the sound of raging water.

"Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo yelled, "Wake up!" Rainbow Dash looked around, confused, then realized that black smoke was spreading around, and her surroundings started to disappear.

Rainbow Dash woke up with a start. "Ugh…I've had that same nightmare for a week now…"

"A _week_?" Scootaloo's eyes widened. "What has the nightmare been about?"

"A flood…My wings were clipped and I couldn't fly. My friends were all drowning, and there was this weird black misty stuff there." Rainbow Dash explained. "I'm gonna go talk to Twilight."

As Rainbow Dash flew out of her house, she realized how exhausted she was. She hadn't had ANY adequate sleep for days. She was barely paying attention to where her wings were taking her. A flash of purple and pink shot in front of her, and the next thing Rainbow Dash knew, she was on the ground.

"Ow...Hey, watch where you're-" Rainbow Dash started angrily, until she realized who the pony was.

"Rainbow Dash! I was looking for you! Have you been having…" Twilight started.

"NIGHTMARES?!" Rainbow Dash finished for her. "Yup. What about you?"

"Yes. I was running through Ponyville. It was really dark, and there was this strange, evil-looking smoke there. It was surrounding me when I woke up. It's been the same for the past week, and I'm so tired!"

"There's been strange smoke in my dream too! Except everypony was drowning right in front of me, and my wings were clipped. Then darkness swallowed me up…" Rainbow Dash rubbed her head.

Fluttershy, Rarity, Apple Jack, and Pinkie Pie came walking up, each looking equally drowsy and grumpy.

"Let me guess. You've all been having nightmares for the past week, and there has been weird black smoke in them!" Rainbow Dash said.

"Yes…Animals were running away from me. They didn't love me anymore!" Fluttershy shivered.

"No one liked my parties!" Pinkie Pie cried.

"Apple Bloom, Granny Smith, Big MacIntosh and the rest o' my family were starvin'." Apple Jack said, her eyes wide.

"Nobody liked my generosity! Everything I created was out of style! Truly dreadful, wouldn't you agree, Fluttershy?" Rarity shuddered.

"Well, I think it's just one big coinky-dink." Apple Jack said doubtfully.

"I beg to differ! My Pinkie Sense is acting up! THIS IS NOT A COINCIDENCE!" Pinkie Pie yelled, obviously going a bit crazy from lack of sleep. Suddenly she gasped. "IDEA!" she said in a sing-song voice, "A fun sleepover will rid our minds of these awful nightmares!"

Twilight jumped up, clapping her hooves together. "That's a great idea, Pinkie!"

"Yeah, if anything cat get these freakish nightmares out o' our heads, it's one of Pinkie's parties!" Apple Jack said. "Yeehaw! Let's get to it!"

"Yes!" The ponies cried.

**LATER THAT NIGHT…**

"Isn't this fun, Dashie?" Pinkie Pie said, looking over at Rainbow Dash, who was getting a spa treatment from Rarity.

"Yes. Fun, fun, fun." Rainbow Dash said sarcastically. Suddenly she was whacked in the face with a pillow. She took the cucumbers Rarity had put over her eyes off and saw Pinkie standing on the other side of the room, holding a pillow.

Jumping up, she cried, "This means war, Pinkie!"

Soon all six ponies joined in the pillow fight, pelting each other with pillows and laughing.

After about a half-hour of this, the friends had gotten very tired and decided it was time for them to go to bed.

"Goodnight, everypony." said Fluttershy.

"Sweet dreams!" added Twilight Sparkle.

Eventually all of the ponies had fallen asleep, hopeful that the nightmares were gone.

Black mist drifted into the window, which Rainbow Dash had forgotten to close, even though Rarity had told her OVER AND OVER AGAIN. The mist surrounded The Mane 6, a little bit going into each ponies' ear. This had been the cause of the nightmares every night.

**APPLE JACK'S NIGHTMARE:**

Apple Jack was standing next to the final bucket of apples. Apple Bloom walked up, holding her stomach as if she were in pain. "Why'da have to buck the apples wrong, sis? I'm so hungry…" she fell over.

"It's okay, Apple Bloom, there's a bucket of apples right here." Apple Jack said, pushing an apple toward her.

But Apple Bloom didn't move. Didn't speak. Her eyes were glazed over, and Apple Jack realized with a shock that she was dead.

Slowly all of the family around her started to collapse from hunger. Apple Jack watched in horror and covered her eyes, crying out in pain as she realized that she was starving too. Soon she had collapsed as well…

**TWILIGHT SPARKLE'S NIGHTMARE…**

"You are reckless, Twilight Sparkle!" Princess Celestia shouted.

"W-What? What did I do?" Twilight Sparkle asked, confused.

"You took advantage of your power! You hurt your friends! You destroyed the Elements of Harmony forever!" Princess Celestia motioned towards 5 ponies in hospital beds, barely moving. They all had their eyes fixed on her, full of fear and horror. Twilight recognized Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Apple Jack, Rarity, and Fluttershy.

"Friendship is dead!" Princess Luna shrieked, walking up to stand by her sister.

"Leave. I never want to hear of your presence in Equestria. If I do, I will send all of my army to hunt you down and drive you away." Princess Celestia said coldly. "You are a disgrace! And to make sure you never harm anypony with your magic again…"

Princess Celestia nodded and a Royal Guard walked up and cut off Twilight's horn.

Twilight stared in horror as it fell to the ground in front of her. She realized that Cadence, Shining Armor, and Flash Century were there. They stared at her coldly.

She turned and walked out of the castle.

**RARITY'S NIGHTMARE…**

"Hello, Twilight, would you like this saddle bag? Isn't it fabulous?" Rarity smiled at her friend.

Twilight stared at it. "Yeesh, Rarity, it looks terrible! No thanks!"

Rarity's eyes widened and her ears went down as Twilight left the shop. "But I made it just for you!" she called.

"Don't care! Maybelle already made me a new one." Twilight yelled behind her.

"Maybelle…?" Rarity whispered to herself. "I'm going to find out who this pony is!" she trotted into Ponyville and saw her other four friends crowded around Twilight, who was wearing a pink and purple glittery saddle bag that said 'Twilite' on it. Another pony was standing there with a grin on her face. She was purple with yellow curly hair, and had rosy red eyes. She wore braces and an oversized pink sweater. Rarity figured this was Maybelle.

"Oh, Maybelle! You're so generous!" Pinkie Pie smiled at the new pony.

"I love this! Rarity tried to make me one earlier, but it looked awful!" Twilight added.

"What would we do without you, Maybelle? You're such a generous friend." Fluttershy said.

"That's 200% cooler!" Rainbow Dash yelled, pointing at Twilight's new saddle bag. She looked up at saw Rarity. "Oh. It's **you.** Go away, Rarity. We don't need you here complaining about getting your hooves dirty."

"Fine, then! I'll leave. See if I care that you have a replacement!" Rarity screamed.

As she walked out of Ponyville, she heard Pinkie yell, "Hey, everypony! You know what this means! A PARTY! LET'S WELCOME MAYBELLE TO PONYVILLE AND SAY 'GOOD RIDDANCE' TO RARITY!"

**PINKIE PIE'S NIGHTMARE…**

Pinkie Pie stood on a stage, ready to perform and make the ponies of Ponyville laugh. She started playing ten instruments, standing on a ball, and juggling at the same time. The ponies just yawned.

"Hey! This is boring!" yelled a pony, throwing a tomato at her.

Soon the rest of the audience joined in and Pinkie Pie was covered in tomato juice.

Pinkie Pie ran backstage, her hair deflating. "Oh…I'm not a Super Duper Party Pony anymore…I suppose I'll be going back to the rock farm…I hate the rock farm…"

**FLUTTERSHY'S NIGHTMARE…**

Fluttershy was in the forest with all of her favorite animals.

She reached out to snuggle Angel Bunny, but he squeaked with fear and ran away.

"Oh, Angel Bunny, you don't have to run away. I would never hurt you." she stepped toward another bunny, but it ran away too.

One by one, as she stepped toward each animal, it ran away squeaking or roaring or croaking with fear.

Fluttershy felt as if her entire life and future had crumbled before her eyes. "No…Please, my friends, come back!"

But they never did.

**RAINBOW DASH'S NIGHTMARE…**

The water level had finally gone down, enough for the streets of Ponyville to function as actual streets and not rivers. Rainbow Dash saw her friends, dripping wet, standing close together.

"You're all alive!" Rainbow Dash ran towards them happily.

"No thanks to you, Rainbow Dash." Pinkie Pie said. Rainbow Dash stopped. If Pinkie Pie called her 'Rainbow Dash' and not 'Dashie', there was something wrong.

"You dropped me into the water and left me to drown!" Rarity screamed.

"You just stared at me when I was drowning!" Pinkie Pie glared at her.

"I'm sorry…My wings were clipped…" Rainbow Dash started.

"Oh, that's a great excuse." Twilight yelled.

"Rainbow Dash…" said a new, echoing voice.

"What?" Rainbow Dash looked around, but didn't see anypony.

The voice continued on anyways. "Rainbow Dash, your friends do not need you anymore. They don't want you, can't you see?"

"That's just because I couldn't help them!"

"No. They never wanted you. They never wanted you to tag along on their adventures, they were very disappointed when they found out that you were the Spirit of Loyalty."

"How do you know that?!"

An image appeared before Rainbow Dash's eyes of her friends standing in Ponyville, talking about something.

"So, everypony, about Rainbow Dash…" Twilight started.

"She's such a show off!" Apple Jack said.

"She always flies away from me!" Pinkie Pie added.

"She yells at me a lot because I'm shy…" Fluttershy whispered.

"So unfashionable!" Rarity spoke up.

"I can see that we all agree. So let's all put our hooves down and tell Rainbow Dash to leave!" Twilight said.

As the image faded away, Rainbow Dash stared at her friends in horror. "Is that true?"

"Yes." Twilight said calmly.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her rosy red eyes, then closed them. Deep down inside her, something snapped, and she let out a scream and ran away from her so-called friends. Black mist surrounded her as she fled.

**BACK IN REAL LIFE…**

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

The five ponies woke up to see black mist surrounding Rainbow Dash and lifting her off of the ground. Something seemed wrong with Rainbow Dash, she looked betrayed.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight screamed.

Rainbow Dash flailed her hooves, still screaming like a maniac and glaring at every pony.

"Dashie, what are you…" Pinkie Pie started, but the mist had lifted Rainbow Dash out of the window and towards the moon.

"Fluttershy! You'd best be goin' after Rainbow Dash." Apple Jack said.

Fluttershy looked out the window and when she saw Rainbow Dash getting carried away, she zoomed off. She flew as fast as she could, almost catching up with Rainbow Dash, until the moon turned black and Rainbow Dash and the strange mist disappeared.

"Oh no!" Fluttershy whispered, flying back down to her friends.

"Well? Where's Dashie?" Pinkie Pie stepped forward. "Isn't she here?"

Fluttershy looked down at the ground. "No. She just…disappeared…"

"WHAT?!" Twilight yelled. "There's no possible way she could just…disappear! That would mean she teleported, and she can't even use magic! How is this possible! She's probably waiting around the corner, waiting for all of us to freak out!" Twilight turned around to face the street and yelled, "Rainbow Dash, this isn't funny!"

"Simmer down, Sally!" Apple Jack said. "Look up."

The five ponies looked up and gasped. The moon was completely black and glowing with an evil red light.

"I think that's where Rainbow Dash went…" Fluttershy whispered, obviously terrified as usual.

"I'll send a letter to Princess Celestia!" Twilight said. "Spike! Where is that dragon when you need him?"

"Right here!" Spike said. "Hm. Where's Rainbow Dash?"

"Gone. Just…Gone." Apple Jack replied.

"Weird." Spike pulled out a pen and a piece of parchment.

"Thank you Spike." Twilight nodded as Spike prepared to write.

"Dear Princess Celestia, as I'm sure you've noticed by now, the moon has gone dark. That is because some black mist came and lifted Rainbow Dash right up and carried her to the moon! No pony knows what's going to happen to her, and I was wondering if you or Princess Luna could help us get Rainbow Dash back?"

Spike finished writing and sent the note.

After a few minutes a note was sent back, and Spike read it out loud:

"'Dear Twilight Sparkle and company, I have noticed that the moon has turned dark. I'm very sorry about Rainbow Dash, but neither I, having controlled the moon for 1,000 years or even Luna, Princess of the Night, have any idea why this is happening, but we are on our way to help you right now."

Almost as soon as Spike finished, a bright light flashed outside. When the 5 friends and little dragon looked out the window, they saw a tall white alicorn with a flowing green, blue, and pink mane standing next to a smaller blue alicorn with a light blue, short mane. They both looked worried, but the smaller one looked horrified as she stared up at the moon.

"They're here!" Twilight called, standing next to the window, "and not a moment too soon!"

"Thank goodness…" Fluttershy added, glancing up at the moon. The rays were brighter now.

Twilight trotted over to the door to let the two ponies in. "Princess Luna! Princess Celestia!" cried every pony –and dragon- as they walked in. Every one bowed in respect, and the taller pony, Princess Celestia, nodded.

The blue one, Princess Luna, spoke up. "Princess Celestia said that Rainbow Dash is gone. That's kind of strange, because for the past week, I've been having nightmares where all of Ponyville was burning down, and Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle were battling-"

"They were trying to put the fire out, right?" Twilight Sparkle asked worriedly.

"No. Rainbow Dash was an alicorn, just like Twilight Sparkle. You were fighting eachother. Then the nightmare changed. It showed a taller alicorn with blue eyes emerging from a sphere of darkness and laughing evilly." Luna finished, annoyed by Twilight's interruption.

Pinkie Pie gasped in horror and her hair deflated. "Not Dashie! Why?" she cried.

"Rainbow Dash? Alicorn? Battling? _**Me?**_" Twilight closed her eyes and tried to imagine what that would look like. _Sure, why not? _She though sarcastically. "Nope. I've got nothing."

"It was just a nightmare, Luna." Princess Celestia said, though her voice shook.

"Really? I beg to differ. What if I told you that years before I became Nightmare Moon, I had nightmares of her?" Luna snapped.

"Rainbow Dash is loyal. Don't worry, every pony. She'll be okay, and everything will be back to normal soon." Twilight said, trying to sound determined.

**MEANWHILE…**

Rainbow Dash had finally stopped screaming like a lunatic, but it was too late to do anything else. She decided the best thing to do to try to find a point of escape and get her revenge was take note of her surroundings. She looked down and saw she was tied to a strange throne of sorts by thick, highly uncomfortable ropes.

Looking around, she saw that she was probably in the throne room of what had once been a beautiful castle.

She was shaken by the nightmare, which she though had really happened –it was so realistic!- and felt like she needed to get revenge. Lack of sleep and absolute anger had made her a little bit crazy…

Rainbow Dash noticed for the first time that there were shadows everywhere. Not just any normal shadows, the colors of them ranged from dark brown to grey, and they all had glowing red eyes. "Uh…Hi?" Rainbow Dash called out. Two particularly large ones floated up and swirled around her. They both said, "If you join us, you shall get your revenge."

"Revenge?" Rainbow Dash said.

"Yes. Revenge." A new yet oddly familiar voice spoke up.

All thoughts of any remaining loyalty to her friends vanished in that very moment. Revenge! Yes!

"I'm in." Rainbow Dash yelled loudly.

"Good." The voice said. It belonged to a black shadow with icy blue eyes. "My name is Nightmare. I will help you get your revenge if you help me get mine."

"Dealio!"

Light swirled around Rainbow Dash. When it faded, she had larger wings and a long horn. She was an alicorn! Her eyes started to glow red as she flew up and out of the castle, ready for battle.

Twilight Sparkle stared up at the moon and saw Rainbow Dash's Cutie Mark flash on its surface.

Apple Jack must have noticed it too, because she whispered, "Uh, guys? I think Rainbow Dash is coming back…"

"I don't want to fight her, but I will if I must…" Twilight Sparkle said quietly.

An explosion went off outside, and a louder, angrier voice said in reply, "That's too bad, because I'm totally ready to destroy you."

All heads whipped around to the door, where Rainbow Dash was standing. Much to Twilight Sparkle's horror, she was and alicorn, and her eyes were glowing bright red.

"Rainbow Dash…What happened?"


End file.
